Fuzzy Duck
by edutamirg
Summary: It's amazing what just one flick of a lighter can do to bring an ever brighter light into your life. 1950's Tangled AU


**AN: Alright, so this is the first fanfiction I've written in _years_. Like, a very long time. I'm very rusty and tired at the moment but I really wanted to get this out of my head. I'm probably going to try and write more, to be honest. **

**I wanted to take a crack at a 1950's Tangled AU, and I haven't seen it done before, so why not? I'm not an expert on the 50's but Google is always a friend.  
I don't really expect a rating change, but it might happen if I feel like it.**  
 **Rate and Review!**

* * *

The music just seemed to drown out anything else that was going on around him, even making him relax into the booth of the small diner he was currently hanging around. It had been a new place on the block, and being who he was, felt like he should check it out for the sake of all his other friends. At least that's what he was telling himself, because everyone just needed that small bit of time away from the world that they live in. Flynn was now in that moment, letting the soothing music flow into one ear and seep out the other, as if he had just taken the energy straight from the music to fuel what was going to be a busy day for him. The long notes almost made him sway to side to side, his heart beat seemingly matching up with the smooth tune. He began to tap his fingers on the table, opening his eyes once again before he could catch anyone staring at him.

His definition of a busy day probably wasn't the same as everyone else's, as he was still young and spent most of his days doing nothing, that, or sleeping in. It was already around noon and he had just bothered climbing from his bed two hours ago. He was actually a bit proud of that, having no reason to rise up in the morning now that he was out of school. Everyone else was getting out of bed much earlier than him, and he knew they were in practical agony, sitting at their desks and drooling on their palms as they tried to stay awake in class to pay attention to the lesson of the test they were bound to fail. It sometimes brought him down to be out alone all day on the weekdays, but then he realized that, no matter how nice it sounded, wasn't nearly as nice as freedom. The girl he had been seeing for the past few weeks was just way too clingy for his taste, and he knew that it was always hard to break it off with someone like that. So getting time away from her was practically heaven to Flynn. Damn, he couldn't even remember her name now, he thought it might start with an _M_ , but there was no way to be sure. That's why using pet names was just a default for someone like him, not that he liked to brag like that, it was just how it was. There were just too many girls to keep up with sometimes, it wasn't his fault he was such a ladies man.

Flynn had found himself out of school a bit earlier than planned in his young life. One little mishap on school grounds and he was expelled, he knew the principle had been wanting a new car anyway. He cared more when it had just happened, but it had been about a month since that had happened and he was perfectly fine about it now. He was perfectly able to enroll in another high school in the area, but had just seen it as a lost cause. He was in his senior year anyway, so he counted it as getting close enough to a diploma. There wasn't much that he was going to be able to do with one, since he really had no plan to skip town even after school was officially over. He could become a mechanic or a TV salesman, but he'd start worrying about that when money was a problem.

His thoughts were interrupted when the music changed on the jukebox, seemingly by some middle aged man and again, to another song he didn't know, but it had a familiar tune that he was unable to place. Either he was really behind on the times or really ahead, either way, he needed to order something before he was kicked out. He gestured to a middle aged woman with salt and pepper hair that he was ready to ordered something, and she came right to him and he told her exactly what he wanted.

"Just a coffee for now."

It was a simple sentence, but his voice was a bit hoarse from the lack of talking yet that day, and that his throat was so dry. He gave the woman a soft smile before she practically waddled her way back into the kitchen to hopefully fetch him a mug and a pot. In his wait, he took that small box of cigarettes from his pocket and hit the side of it with the palm of his hand, fishing one out the end before sticking one end between his lips. With the box back in his leather jacket, he reached for his lighter and lit it up, a puff of smoke greeting him in the lungs. The feeling overwhelmed him as he drew another puff, placing the lighter back in his pocket.

It wasn't quite a minute later when his coffee was brought to his booth, but he didn't bother to look up as the waitress poured the drink into his mug as he blew out a long string of smoke. Flynn was taken by surprised when the coughing of his waitress didn't sound like the lady who had come to his table before, but of a young girl who looked to be a bit younger than him. He was caught staring at her for a moment, because she really was a sigh to behold, and not the typical girl he would see working these places. She was a brunette, which instantly made him smile at her, but what made her hair a bit unusual was that it was short, which he didn't see often himself. It was choppy and uneven, but in the best way possible it framed her round face beautifully. Her freckles were very faint, but something about those large, emerald green eyes drew them out, catching his attention. Her nose was almost adorable, in the way that it turned upwards only slightly, giving it a button like appearance.

Her uniform was very flattering around her waist, a light purple dress with a while apron. And she topped it off with a cute bow in the back where her apron was being held in place. She wasn't exactly curvy, in fact, she was short and skinny, her breasts small, but they still caught his attention.

Right when he was about to move to check out the rest of her in the least creepy way possible, was when those coughs threw her off, sending scalding hot coffee pouring into his lap. It was if she knew what he was thinking, because the timing just couldn't be anymore perfect.

He didn't yell, but he did hiss lowly and drop his cigarette in the worse way possible, landing right on top of his other hand. The pain was not fun, and more painful than he thought burning yourself with a cigarette would ever be, but he tried his best to keep quiet and to not draw attention to either of them, but she was the first to react loudly. He took a deep breath, trying to relax himself as the slight ringing in his ears finally stopped and he observed the cute girl panicking over what she had just done to him. The look on her face was of utter terror, but he couldn't help that he saw just a bit of that flush in his cheeks and only focused on that he was able to make her blush. (Even if it was in the worst way possible.)

"Oh, no, no! Not again!" She called out, all heads turning to the two of them, but Flynn could only focus on the fact that her voice was so pure and clean in a way.

"I am so sorry, sir..." She had gotten on her knees to clean what had spilled onto the floor, and finally, he broke from the little trance he was in, still clenching his injured hand.

"It's alright, babe. Pure accident, I'm-"

"This is the second time this week, child!" Another voice interrupted him before he could finish his thought, his eyes followed the noise of the god awful voice and came upon the same woman that he had placed his order with. Flynn simply grabbed his napkin and began dabbing his jeans to try and get a little of the staining out. He was just thankful that it didn't exactly fall into any of the wrong places, because he was going to have to get home somehow. "How on this earth can anyone be so clumsy..." The old hag just seemed to keep spewing insults at this girl, Flynn was only somewhat paying attention, but only spoke up due to the look on the girl's face. The pool gal almost looked as if she was about to break down crying, and Flynn wasn't going to allow that.

"Ma'am, I was smoking a cigarette and I exhaled at the wrong time, so she started coughing. If anyone needs to be yelled at, it's me." With a raised eyebrow, he was curious to see if she would say anything to him, then looked down to the girl who was still staring at the floor as if it was the most interesting in the world. "You alright, doll?" He asked a bit more quietly, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, only getting a nod and a soft smile, which was more than enough for him.

The woman took one last look at the girl then to him before awkwardly stepping away and back into the kitchen for whatever reason. Flynn simply rolled his eyes as the girl got up and almost seemed to chase after her boss. He took that as his chance to leave, because he really hadn't paid for anything and just wanted to go home to change at this point. The diner was nice, but he didn't think he would be coming here again after the look he had gotten from that old prude. She was just jealous of his young charm and handsome face, yes, that was always the reason for people to be angry at him.

The bell on top of the door showed him out, now walking back onto the sidewalk to make his way back home before he had to meet up with his little girl crush, that _M_ girl. The thought made him sick at the moment, which was unusual, so he just thought back to the girl in the diner and just how cute she was. He was about to round the corner when he could hear someone running behind him, turning around slowly to see what exactly the problem was.

"Wait!" Oh, it was the girl. And now he was smirking again as she finally caught up with him, letting her catch her breath for a moment before speaking again. "Well, your boss really seems to have it out for you." It wasn't much of a conversation starter that he normally began with, but he didn't exactly care about that in the moment.

The look she gave him made him laugh, as she seemed to just be nodding and smiling in agreement.

"She's a bit hard on me, but I've never had a job before so it can be hard! Are you going this way? Because I am, too. She let me off early because she wanted me to recover from whatever was bothering me back there. I hope that the coffee didn't burn too much!" She was rambling, and he had to take a second just to let his brain catch up to what he was saying.

"I'm going this way, yep." She was actually a bit cute when she went on like that. Her voice was like honey, sweet and consistent. He shoved his hands in his pockets, not bothering to answer about the coffee, because it had burned, but the area where his cigarette had fallen hurt even worse. The whole thing was a traumatic experience that he had hardly registered in his own head. He was too busy paying attention to how the pretty girl in front of him was rolling from the tips of her toes to the balls of her feet.

"Well, do you mind if I walk with you? I wasn't going to be able to walk my little brother home from school, but I should just be able to catch up with him at this point." She looked out towards the sun and her hair almost seemed to glow, bringing a warm sigh to her lips as she seemed to absorb the happiness the sun came with. That's what she reminded him of, the sun. She instantly brightened things up when she talked, no matter how long he had known her, which wasn't even going on ten minutes yet.

"Well, I'm not nearly as entertaining as I am good looking but you're more than welcome to walk with me, princess." He began his trek again after fishing another cigarette from his pocket and lighting it up without another word, and she was quick to follow, but careful to stay out of the path of his smoke. He almost felt bad that he was moving faster than she was, but his legs were simply longer, and it was almost adorable to watch her bite her lip and try to keep up and avoid his smoke at the same time. He hadn't gotten that craving out of his body for a smoke when it had been put out by the coffee a minute ago.

He wondered how old she was, but then that thought almost made him cringe. He really shouldn't be talking to a girl who he wasn't even sure was of age or not, but she just had one of those faces that she could either be _very young_ or just _young_. She was working in a diner, so that was a good sign, but shouldn't she be in school? He highly doubted a pretty girl like her would end up like him.

The conversation that they held was very muted and quiet. It wasn't that he had no interest in talking to her, but their facial expressions said everything that they needed to know. He caught her looking at him a few times, in which he just would pretend not to notice and smile to himself as he walked. He would do the same once he was finally able to catch up to his walking pace. The girl was very cute, and very much a girl that he could see himself trying to go for. He might just try and make that movie, because hell, he could use a good lay.

"I love walking around the sidewalks this direction. There are so many beautiful flowers that people have planted and it's always nice to smell them in the breeze. Sometimes I'll pick some if there are plenty to go around." She seemed to have no problem with making conversation, which he was happy to listen to. Something about her voice drew him in, and he looked right to a bunch of daises, picking one as he walked before stopping for a moment to tuck it behind her ear.  
"Well, a pretty girl like you deserves to be able to pick a few flowers, don't you think?" He cocked his head slightly, his other hand rubbing against the small beard on his chin in a overdone concentration before taking another drag from his cigarette with a chuckle. He had made her giggle, gently adjusting the flower before she kept walking, and this time, he did slow down for her.

Before he knew it, there were a few smaller kids a couple yards in front of them, none of them he had even seen walking around here before, and his little brunette friend had run right up to the children, picking the smallest one right off his feet and giving him a big hug. He took that as his time to part ways from her, throwing his burnt out cigarette on the ground and stomping on it with his boot just for extra measure. He looked back up, seeing the girl on her knees as she talked to her brother, who seemed to be gesturing wildly about something, probably about his day. It was almost funny to look at, since the girl herself seemed like she would blow away with just on firm gust of wind. he was very small compared to Flynn, but that made something in his chest flutter, and that was a feeling unfamiliar to him. If he wasn't so caught up in watching her, then maybe he would have noticed her waving goodbye to him. He was quickly brought back into reality and waved back at her, not uttering a word, but silently willing her to walk back towards him, but she went in the other direction.

Before he knew it, she was out of sight and he was still standing on the sidewalk like an idiot, his hand still raised in a waving motion. He almost wondered who the kid was that she was picking up. Was was his name, how old was he, the girl said he was her little brother, right? He was cute, probably six or seven with short, blonde hair an brown eyes, he had this girl seemed to have a good relationship. It came to him in a flash that he wasn't even sure of her name, and in that moment, he knew that he had to go and find out. It wasn't even something to think about briefly now, he was going to return to the diner in the morning. He turned on his heel and made his way back in the other direction. He had only now noticed that he was caught up in following her for a few blocks that he forgot about his turn. It obviously didn't matter now, so he looked up towards the sky and took a breath of fresh air.

He would see her again.

* * *

The next morning, his routine was almost rushed a bit to be able to get out the door and visit the diner he never thought he was going to step foot in ever again. What he had done that morning was nurse his injured hand, finding no time to do it the night before, and combed through his hair. His bangs, still stubborn as ever, stayed windswept across his brow. Flynn liked that look anyway, he never thought he would be able to pull off that greasy look of pomade and hairspray. He sat in the exact same booth after listening to the exact same bell over the door greet him in and just hoped that his mystery waitress was working this morning, and just to his luck, she was the first thing that popped from those double doors to the kitchen, carrying a tray of food for the people right behind him.

Flynn waited for just the right moment to wave at her to catch her attention, so he just watched her in the meantime. She seemed like a whole different person, actually happy to be working as she stayed for a little while longer to talk to the man and woman she was serving at the moment. He caught her again just as she had finished with that table, leaving that couple with a big smile on her face as he practically skipped towards him.

"Oh! It's you again!" Her cheeks were rosy, round and pink, causing him to return that beautiful smile she wore on her delicate features now. Her smiles, laughs and overall happiness was just contagious to him.

"It's me again. It seems that the coffee just drew me right back here to see you. I mean, even the coffee couldn't resist _this_." Smooth delivery, and he even sent a wink her way, which she responded with a delightful giggle. Before another word could be said between them, she went back to the kitchen and came back almost immediately with a mug and pot of coffee in hand,all before he even had a chance to miss her. The look on her face was utterly perfect. Her eyebrows arched, round eyes crinkled and lips pursed as she made sure she didn't spill a single stop of coffee.

His gaze was stuck on her as she did so, and just as she finished, he looked away, as he was sure she might just find his staring a bit weird. He was just admiring a beautiful lady, right? It was all innocent in his mind, at least to a certain extent.

"What's your name, fuzzy duck?" He asked, surprised with the tone of his voice, it was genuine and soft. To his question, she responded immediately.

"What's that?" She raised an eyebrow and he couldn't help but laugh and shake his head, taking hold of his mug of coffee. "Never mind. Just what's your name?" That little nickname had fit her perfectly, but now wasn't the time to explain that.

"It's Rapunzel!"

 _"Gesundheit."_

* * *

 **Fuzzy Duck is supposedly slang for 'short haired girl', in the 50's. I thought it would be a cute idea.**

 **I hope this was actually enjoyable. Let me know!**


End file.
